University of Chicago Law School Chicago Unbound Journal Articles Faculty Scholarship 1994 Interdependence and Choice in Distributive Justice: The Welfare Conundrum Lee Anne Fennell Follow this and additional works at: https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/journal_articles Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Lee Anne Fennell, "Interdependence and Choice in Distributive Justice: The Welfare Conundrum," 1994 Wisconsin Law Review 235 (1994). This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at Chicago Unbound. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal Articles by an authorized administrator of Chicago Unbound. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. ARTICLES INTERDEPENDENCE AND CHOICE IN DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE: THE WELFARE CONUNDRUM LEE ANNE FENNELL* This Article presents a theoretical model for analyzing welfare policy choices, a model that seeks both to explain the puzzling persistence of welfare in the face of widespread dissatisfaction with it, and to provide a reasoned basis for making more satisfactory policy choices. Drawing on game theory, the author postulates that the poor and the nonpoor are faced with a strategic dilemma as a result of their shared stake in the alleviation of poverty. The author's analysis of this dilemma suggests that the nonpoor react rationally by providing assistance to the poor, but that they are dissatisfied with this outcome insofar as it imposes costs on them. Indeed, the author contends that some of the most troubling of these costs result from decisions made by the poor in reaction to the nonpoor's decision to provide assistance. Having identified the strategic dilemma or "game" that results in society's grudging provision of welfare, the author then explores ways in which society can reduce the costs associated with welfare by changing the way the game is perceived by the poor, the nonpoor, or both.